Small Business Saturday on Grand Island featured a diversity of products

Story and Photos by Alice Gerard

Senior Contributing Writer

Locally created products were the centerpiece of Small Business Saturday, held Nov. 30.

Carmen Sokody, one of the owners of Leaf, Stone and Steel, at 1939 Grand Island Blvd., said, for her, the value of Small Business Saturday is “that people do come out to support businesses that are made by real people. It’s supporting a lot of family-owned and just local people in your area, instead of just supporting big corporations. So, you’re giving back to your community what you put into it when you buy at a local shop.”

Customers check out products at Leaf, Stone and Steel.

JoAnne Ciffa, who owns the Island Shoppe, with Tessa DeMartin.

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For Tessa DeMartin, who works at the Island Shoppe, 1966 Whitehaven Road, the thing she likes best about Small Business Saturday is “probably just seeing everybody get together and seeing their interests and what they want to shop for. And being able to help them find what they need, too. It satisfies me.”

Jasmine is the chief experience officer at the Island Ship Center.

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Fahim Mojawalla, who co-owns the Island Ship Center, 1879 Whitehaven Road, with his wife, Seema, said, for him, the meaning of Small Business Saturday is “the fact that it promotes all small businesses and it allows people to recognize how important small businesses are to the landscape of American business.”

Participants at the vendor fair at Simply Boba: Samantha Taylor (Sofie’s Scentiments), Vinh Nguyen (Simply Boba), Michelle Giambra (The Boro Homestead), Rob Rein (Ginger Woodworks), and Ian and Kate Bush (Garden of Ian).

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At Simply Boba Bubble Tea & Banh Mi, 2600 Grand Island Blvd., a group of tiny businesses were participating in a vendor fair organized by Simply Boba’s owner, Vinh Nguyen.

Nguyen said, Small Business Saturday is “really just to highlight local small business owners and their ability to create and work hard. We just want to showcase other businesses. I’m hoping for all of my vendors to sell out of all of their custom-made items, for people to get some early Christmas shopping done. You can avoid the Black Friday and the Saturday after sales and grab some nice stocking stuffers.

“I just hope that people come in and realize that, in our local community, there’s tons of people doing really cool, neat things. It’s cool to see other people succeed. As they succeed, it also helps me succeed. It’s just kind of a win-win for all of us.”

Sue Robertson of Bake Me Crazy with one of her favorite Bills-themed cookies.

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Sue Robertson, owner of Bake Me Crazy, said Small Business Saturday means “we get to introduce ourselves to the community if they aren’t aware of us, to be able to come out and have a one-stop place for everyone to check out all of these small businesses at once.”

A few of the business owners participating in the vendor fair at Simply Boba are new to business.

Kate Bush, co-owner of The Garden Eden, shows off some of the products made with hot peppers.

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For Kate and Ian Bush, The Garden of Ian was a hobby that turned into something bigger. Ian grows spicy peppers and uses those peppers to make “homemade hot sauces from a low level to an extreme level.”

Kate said she was looking to “get a little more exposure for my husband. He’s retired military. It’s a little side gig, a nice hobby.”

Ian served in the U.S. Army for 20 years before retiring. The couple has owned the business, which also produces pepper jams and pepper dust, for less than a year.

“The pepper jams are also made with hot peppers and fresh fruit and then pepper dust,” Kate said. “Pepper dust is actually everything that’s left over from the ferment from hot sauce and then dehydrated.”

After being dehydrated, a pestle and mortar is used to turn the pepper dust into a powder, which is then poured into little jars, Kate explained, adding, “Actually, Vinh put it on his turkey this year.”

Another new business owner, Samantha Taylor, just started her business, Sofie’s Scentiments, this year.

“I make coconut-soy blend candles and wax melts,” she said. “The candles have cute little flowers on top. They’re made with high-quality fragrance oils. I love making candles because my motto is ‘Stop and smell the little things in life.’ Like, stop and smell the roses, which is why I have the flowers on top. Right now, I have my fall and winter collection, but I like to have different seasonal smells. But yeah, the candle is a way to make your house feel more like your home. It’s a full experience.”

In addition to running her candle business, Taylor is also a singer/guitarist who performs pop and country music at a variety of locations in Western New York. Her next gig is set for 6:30 p.m. Dec. 6 at the VUE Rooftop Lounge in the Curtiss Hotel (210 Franklin St., Buffalo).

Other business owners described the products that they were selling.

“We have a boutique with our shipping center,” Mojawalla said. “It’s pretty unique. My wife, Seema, does the boutique, and she sets it up really nicely. Every year, we do a 20% off sale in the boutique, and it’s 20% off the entire store. It gets the holiday season kicked off. It’s great because it allows people to see the unique gifts that she has, plus she has a whole line of naturals products that she sells. It’s really good.”

Robertson said, “I have some Bills cookies available for the game tomorrow and, this week, I’ll be opening up orders on my Facebook page for Christmas cookies.”

A new menu item is being offered at Simply Boba, Nguyen said. “We have a new item called the ‘croffle.’ A croffle is a croissant waffle. So, we ship in handmade croissants from New York City, and we proof them and put them in our waffle irons, and we press them.

“You can pick any variety of toppings that you want. Any fruit toppings. All sorts of bananas, berries, nuts. Whatever you want to put on the top of them. We have chocolate drizzles, caramel drizzles, and white chocolate drizzles. They’re very fruity. They’re delicious, soft and flaky, and nice and warm. But we also have some savory croffles that are coming out. I have one that’s called the ‘breckie.’ The breckie is a breakfast one. It’s scrambled eggs and smoked bacon with scallions. I have one, called ‘simply avo,’ which is mashed avocado and everything bagel seasoning on it. They are super delightful. That’s a new food item. You can custom build them however you want with the toppings we have so, whatever your pleasure is, we have it.”

Of Small Business Saturday, Taylor said, “It’s really cool getting to meet other like-minded people who have small businesses. They have really similar energy, even if they make something different than what I do. It’s really cool getting to meet people face to face vs. online. Just seeing everybody being able to smell the candles in person and seeing their facial reactions to the different scents I have. I think it’s just really awesome being able to meet people and get the word out there and mingle. I love it.”